Solangelo
by figureskatingfangirl
Summary: A Solangelo fic about the beginning of Nico and Will's relationship. Takes place after Blood of Olympus. SPOILERS FOR BLOOD OF OLYMPUS! You have been warned. Sorry. I suck at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

Hazel stared at the two boys across the archery range, dumbfounded. Her brother and Will Solace were sitting next to each other on a bench, looking about as different as two people could be. Will was tan and had blond hair and blue eyes. He wore an orange Camp Half-Blood shirt, and khaki shorts. Nico, on the other hand, was pale with dark eyes and hair, and wore his usual ensemble of black jeans and an old aviators jacket.

But that wasn't the weird thing. What was strange was that they were both _laughing._

Hazel saw Percy walk up next to her looking about as surprised as she felt.

"Is Nico actually _laughing_?" he asked her, looking bewildered. Hazel looked over at him. Underneath the mask of surprise on his face, he looked excited.

"I think so," she said carefully. "But I have _never _seen him actually laugh like that before." They looked back at Nico and Will, who were still talking and laughing, unaware of Hazel and Percy talking about them.

"I haven't seen him laugh in _years_," Percy said. "Not since he was ten."

Hazel knew enough about Nico's past to know what that implied. Annabeth had told her Nico had first come to camp when he was ten. Bianca died right after they came to camp. So that was _five years._ He hadn't laughed and had barely smiled for _five whole years._ And now he was doing it like it was the easiest thing in the world.

Hazel was pulled from her thoughts when Percy started laughing.

"What?" she asked blankly. She didn't get what was so funny. Nico being happy was great, but Percy looked like he was about to suffocate from laughing so hard. "_What?_" she demanded again when he didn't answer.

"They totally like each other," Percy said, looking at her as though she was missing the obvious. She looked back at the two teens on the bench. They _were_ sitting pretty close…. And Nico laughing for the first time in half a decade had to mean something. She felt a grin spread across her face.

"We've got to tell the others," Percy said eagerly.

"Whoa. Wait. Shouldn't we give them their privacy?" Hazel rocked nervously on the balls of her feet. "You know. Wait for them to tell everyone themselves?"

"Hazel. It's _Nico_. You know him." He looked at her imploringly.

He had a point there. It had taken Nico four and a half years to admit his feelings to Percy, and that was after he was over it. He would need a little push. She took a deep breath. She was going to regret this.

"Fine," she said. Percy beamed. "But make sure no one else finds out. We'll meet in my cabin."

As he scurried off to find everyone else, she looked back at the bench.

They were gone.


	2. Chapter 2

**Hi guys! I didn't actually think that this story would get any views. But it did, so now I'll be updating every Sunday. Thanks to everyone who's read it so far! Extra thanks to everyone who reviewed!**

**Please review more, I definitely need some constructive criticism!**

**Hope you like this chapter!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Heroes of Olympus.**

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><p>Reyna strode up to the Hades cabin, glancing behind her to make sure Nico wasn't around. When she made sure he wasn't anywhere near her, she went inside.<p>

Even though Nico and Jason had said they planned on remodeling the cabin months ago, they hadn't started yet. Almost everything was black, the only exception being the white sheet Hazel used to separate her side of the room from Nico's. Piper, Jason, Percy, Leo, Hazel, Frank, Rachel, and Annabeth were all sitting on the black marble floor of the cabin in a circle.

"Sorry I'm late, guys," she said, sitting down between Piper and Annabeth on the cold floor. "Archery took longer than I thought it would."

"No problem," Rachel said, grinning at her. After the war ended, they had become surprisingly good friends. Rachel helped fill in Rachel most of the stuff that had happened on the Greek side of the Titan War, and Reyna told her what had happened on the Roman side.

"So, first order of business," Percy said, hitting the ground with a gavel. "We all know Nico and Will like each other, right?"

"Yeah."

"Duh."

"It's kind of obvious."

"Yep."

"Where did you get a gavel?" Annabeth demanded, cutting of the replies of everyone else. "Who thought it would be a good idea to give you a gavel?"

"I found it in the Big House," Percy said. "And I will be completely responsible with it." He hit the floor again to emphasize his point.

Jason cleared his throat. "_Anyway_," he said, stopping the couple from bickering any more. "They like each other. That's obvious. They just need to admit it to each other. Any ideas?" Leo raised his hand.

"No, we are not locking them in a room together." Leo put his hand down.

"Why don't we _talk_ to them?" Reyna asked. Everyone turned towards Piper. This was getting ridiculous.

"No," Piper said before any of them could say anything. "_No_. I'm not going to charmspeak them."

As the campers started arguing again, Reyna started thinking about how to help Nico with this. She remembered when they had become friends about six months ago while transporting the Athena Parthenos to Half-Blood Hill. He had seemed so _sad _then. But after the war ended, things seemed to start getting better for him. A month after the end of the war, she had talked to Annabeth about him. She had told Reyna about the Lotus Casino, Bianca, and everything else that Nico had had to go through. He definitely deserved to be happy.

"Reyna?" Piper said, snapped Reyna out of her thoughts. "You okay? You've been staring into space for ten minutes."

"I'm fine," Reyna said quickly. "Just… thinking."

"Okay, so what do you think we should do about the lovebirds?" Piper asked.

"I… honestly have no idea."

Leo raised his hand again.

"We're not following them around throwing rosepetals either!" Jason snapped. Leo put his hand down again.

"Okay guys, calm down," Hazel said quietly. That was the first thing she had said for the whole meeting. "This isn't getting us anywhere. Why don't we just… let them do their own thing."

Percy sighed dramatically. "Hazel, I already _told _you. They're not going to get together on their own."

Hazel shrugged, looking annoyed. "I don't know. It's not impossible. You saw them together."

The rest of the group started arguing _again_, and Reyna decided to leave. Everyone was too busy arguing to even notice. She walked past the rest of the cabins and the basketball court, deciding to look for Nico.

She eventually found him in the infirmary, talking to Will.

_Big surprise_, she thought.

"Hey Reyna," Nico said, stopping his conversation with Will. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine," she said. "I just need to talk to you. Outside. Now."

"Um… okay," he said, looking nervous. He glanced back at Will. "I'll talk to you later," he said.

"Bye, Death Boy," Will said.

As soon as Reyna and Nico left the infirmary, he turned towards him.

"_Death Boy_?" she asked, raising her eyebrows. Nicknames. Reminded her of a certain Seaweed Brain and Wise Girl.

"Shut up," he muttered. "I told him not to call me that. Anyway, what did you want to talk about?"

"You," she said, deciding to just get straight to the point. "And Will. And your feelings for each other."

Nico turned red. "I - what - why - you - what?" he spluttered. "_Feelings_? What? Did Percy put you up to this? He's been trying to set me up with people for months," he said, looking like a mutinous tomato.

Reyna suppressed a laugh, remembering Percy trying to set up Nico and Butch, then Nico nearly burning down his cabin. "C'mon Nico. You like him. You can admit it."

His face was almost purple now. "I - no - what? You're crazy."

"You're not denying it," she observed.

He threw his hands up, looking like he wanted to strangle her. He still didn't deny anything.

"I won't pester you any more," she reassured him. "As long as you talk to him." She walked away, hoping his face would return to it's usual color soon.


	3. Chapter 3

**Hi guys! Before you read: I am so so so so sorry for not updating last week. **

**Again, constructive criticism (and reviews in general) are my favorite things in the world! So please review! **

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><p>Annabeth sat on her bed with a new laptop on her lap. It was great and really high tech (and completely against camp rules), but it didn't even get close to comparing to the laptop Daedalus had given to her. She still got sad thinking about how it had gotten lost in Tartarus along with her knife. There had been thousands of ideas on there that she hadn't even gotten a chance to glance at.<p>

She shook herself from her thoughts. It was best not to dwell on what had happened in Tartarus. She looked at her screen, which showed a half typed report she was working on for her AP Physics class. She started typing again when Percy barged into the cabin.

"Hey Wise Girl," he said with a grin, plopping himself down next to Annabeth on the bed.

"Hey Percy," she said, barely glancing up from her report.

He frowned. "Are you _still_ working on school stuff again?" he asked. "We're supposed to be taking a break from that."

She nodded absentmindedly, still focusing on the computer screen until Percy took it away and snapped the lid closed.

"No homework," he said pleadingly, making a kicked puppy face.

She sighed. Even after all these years, she still hadn't built up a resistance against the puppy face. "Fine. What do you want to do?"

"Let's scheme more," Percy said.

She knew immediately what he was talking about. Ever since Nico's confession right after the war (that is, after the week of "What does he _mean_, I'm not his type? I am EVERYONE'S TYPE!"), he had made it his mission to find Nico a date to make up for being completely and utterly oblivious to Nico's crush for four years. Still remaining his completely and utterly oblivious self, he didn't figure out who Nico's new crush was for about five months.

"Okay. Fine. Scheming," she said, sitting up straighter. "Any new ideas?"

"No," he said, shaking his head. "But my mom does!" He looked confused when Annabeth started laughing so hard she almost rolled off of the bed. "What's so funny?"

"Even your _mom_ has noticed they like each other," she said when she had stopped laughing. "Those two really _are _idiots."

"They're not more oblivious than me, right?" he asked, pulling an exaggeratedly worried face. "Because I've got a reputation around here."

"What did your mom say?" she asked, deciding to just ignore the last part and focus on the task at hand.

"She said they reminded her of us right before we started dating," he said, laughing. "With the nicknames and arguing and stuff."

Annabeth started laughing again. Sally had a point. The constant bickering, annoying nicknames, and stubbornness did remind her of Percy and herself before they had started dating.

"Oh my gods," Annabeth said, jumping off the bed. A lightbulb had just gone off in her head. "Percy, we've got to go. I have and idea."


	4. Chapter 4

**Hi guys! So here's chapter four! Hope you guys like it, and as I will constantly say, please review! Construction criticism is the best.**

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><p>Will cursed under his breath as he dabbed nectar on Lou Ellen's arm. The cut across her bicep wasn't too deep, but he was pretty sure the Ares kids were still mad.<p>

"Did you _really _need to turn Clarisse's electric spear into a teddy bear?" he sighed, grabbing some bandages on the table next to him. "That was her third one, and you _know _how she gets about her weapons."

Lou Ellen, who was sitting on one of the infirmary's many beds, giggled and said "It was pretty funny though, you've got to admit."

Will nodded reluctantly. It was always funny to prank the Ares kids. It had taken three of Clarisse's brothers to hold her back from Lou Ellen, and she had _still _managed to get ahold of another spear within thirty seconds.

"Just be careful, okay?" Will asked her, bandaging up her arm. "I kind of thought Clarisse was going to kill you."

Lou Ellen's eyes lit up. "Oh, that reminds me! Speaking of death - " Will cut her off before she could continue.

"No," he said firmly. "We are _not _having this conversation again. I refuse."

"Come _on,_" she exclaimed, gesturing wildly at the ceiling with her one good arm. "I'm your _friend_. And it's not like everyone doesn't already know about - "

"Don't say it," he warned, cutting her off again.

"- you're huge crush - "

"Don't - "

"- on _Nico Di Angelo!_"

"If I wasn't fixing your arm right now I would just walk away," he muttered.

"But you're not denying it!" Lou Ellen said triumphantly.

Will didn't answer.

"Ugh. Fine," she groaned as he finished wrapping her arm. "But at least talk to him about it." Without another word, she hopped off the bed and ran outside.

Will sighed again, leaning back in his chair. She was right, obviously. He did have a huge crush on Nico. But he wasn't going to jeopardize him and Nico's friendship by telling him. He was pretty sure that Nico - and the whole camp for that matter - knew that Will liked him. But he hadn't said anything yet, so Will just planned on giving him space for now.

But waiting for Nico to say something was hard. Will had never been the most patient person, and wondering if Nico would _ever _say anything about it was agitating.

_I've got to tell him,_ Will thought, standing up abruptly. He strode out of the infirmary and into the bright sunlight, the light making him feel a bit calmer He glanced around the camp, wondering where Nico was. His gaze finally rested on the Hades' cabin. That would be a good start.

As he walked towards the dark, imposing cabin, he tried to figure out what he would say.

'I like you'? Too simple.

'We should date'? Too forward.

'Are you from Nashville? Because you're the only _ten I see_'? No. Just no.

He eventually was standing in front of the black cabin doors, his heart in his throat.

_You can do this_, he thought to himself.

_No you can't_, he argued.

_You're arguing with yourself, idiot. Just knock._

He knocked twice on the cabin door and waited. After a few moments, Annabeth opened the door. Will let out a breath he hadn't known he'd been holding.

"Hi Will," she said. She was smiling, but it looked rather forced. "What's up?"

"Hey Annabeth," he said, trying to sound as casual as possible. "Do you know where Nico is?"

"Nope. No idea," she said quickly.

He heard a stifled laugh come from behind Annabeth, and he looked over her shoulder and into the room. Percy (who was holding a gavel for some reason), Reyna, Hazel, Frank, Calypso, Leo, Frank, Jason, Piper, and Lou Ellen were sitting on the floor of the cabin in a circle.

He frowned. "Most of you don't live in this cabin."

Lou Ellen rolled her eyes. "Really Will? I had no idea," she said sarcastically.

"Well anyway Will, it was nice seeing you," said Annabeth, pushing him back outside. The door slammed shut.

Will stared at it bewilderedly for a few seconds. That had been… weird. He shook the thoughts from his mind. He still needed to find Nico.

He went all over camp looking, and eventually found Nico playing fetch with Mrs. O'Leary near the woods.

Will strolled over to Nico. He could feel his heart racing and tried to look casual again.

"Hey Death Boy," he said, rubbing Mrs. O'Leary's ears.

"I told you not to call me that," Nico grumbled. Mrs. O'Leary barked and the threw the stick - more of a tree branch - for her to chase again. "So what's up?" he asked.

Will froze. He knew he needed to just calm down and spit it out. "I um… I just… uh… wanted to talk to you?" It came out sounding like a question.

Nico frowned slightly. "Are you okay?" he asked. "You look like you're about to pass out."

"I'm fine," Will insisted. He did feel like he was about to pass out, but he could do this. "I just um… wanted to - um - I guess I - " Before he was able to actually say it, Mrs. O'Leary created a distraction.

"Mrs. O'Leary, _no_," Nico yelled, running over to the dog. "Not on the dryads' trees!"

Will smiled slightly, watching Nico try to get the hellhound away from the trees. Maybe he would tell Nico tomorrow. Now seemed like a bad time. In the meantime, Annabeth and the others had some explaining to do.


	5. Chapter 5

**Hey guys! I'm so so so so sorry for not updating at all last week. Things have been busy. Anyway, I hope you guys like the chapter and remember to review!**

**(Also there's a note at the end for when you finish)**

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><p>Annabeth sat back on the floor after having slammed the door on Will. She seemed to be both annoyed and relieved at the same time - annoyed that Will had interrupted them, and relieved that he hadn't actually asked too many questions.<p>

"So _anyway_," she said, having settled back into the circle. "I have an idea."

Piper felt a bit guilty that no one but Annabeth was helpful in these situations, but Annabeth was just a leader through and through. It didn't matter if it was on the battlefield fighting titans or sitting in a cabin trying to help someone's love life, she would automatically become the leader.

"It's January eighteenth," Annabeth said. "So that means a big day for Nico is coming up." She looked at them expectantly, obviously thinking they would know what she was talking about immediately. Everyone stared at her blankly except for Hazel, Reyna, and Jason.

"January 28th! His fifteenth birthday," Hazel exclaimed. Her smile quickly faded to a scowl. "You guys forgot, didn't you?"

The people who hadn't remembered shifted nervously, muttering apologies. Piper knew from experience that an angry Hazel wasn't good.

"Plus ninety something years," Leo added casually. Everyone ignored him.

"_Anyway_, I'm assuming that Will's remembered, since he's a good person who doesn't forget people's birthdays," she said, glaring along with Hazel.

Piper finally caught on. "So we just need to make sure he picks a good present?" she asked.

Annabeth nodded, looking grateful that someone had finally understood. "Then we just make sure everyone else is out of the way, and hopefully they'll finally admit their feelings instead of acting like idiots."

Before anybody could accept or dismiss the idea, there was a knock on the cabin door.

"Shit, Will must be back," Annabeth muttered. She glanced back at the others as the knocking grew louder. "Should we let him in?"

Everyone stared blankly at her again. Piper sighed.

"Let him in," she said. "Maybe we can actually talk some sense into him."

Annabeth nodded like she thought that was a good point and stood up. She opened the door, not bothering with the fake smile like she had fifteen minutes ago. "In. Now," she said to Will.

Piper almost laughed at the mixture of annoyance, fear, and confusion on Will's face as he walked into the room.

"What's even going on here?" he asked exasperatedly. "Like I said before, most of you guys don't live in here."

Lou Ellen facepalmed. "You're an idiot," she said simply. "Just come sit down." She scooted over so there was a larger space between her and Frank, who had mostly just looked amused for the entire time.

"So," Annabeth said as Will sat down. "We're here because you and Nico are stupid."

He glared at Lou Ellen. "Is this about what I told you earlier? Did you tell them?"

She snorted. "I didn't tell them. You guys are just so obvious that they figured it out themselves. We're just figuring out how to get you two lovebirds together."

Will still looked confused. "So… you guys are plotting ways to get Nico to like me?"

His response resulted in many different reactions. Lou Ellen facepalmed again, Annabeth and Rachel cursed, Hazel glared even more, Leo gave up and fell over, Frank shook his head, and Percy hit the ground with his gavel. Piper felt like ripping her hair out.

"He's already infatuated with you," Calypso said. The group looked at her with surprise; she didn't speak up to much during these meetings. "You two just need to stop being so oblivious and actually communicate. Tell him how you feel."

Will was silent for a moment before he spoke again. "What if he rejects me?"

Calypso's face softened slightly. "Then you will move on," she said gently. "Sometimes the people you love won't love you back. But life will go on." She sat back and intertwined her hand with Leo's. "Besides," she added after everyone stayed silent. "He feels the same way you do, so you don't need to worry."

"And you remembered his birthday, right?" Reyna's voice was casual, but had a hint of menace underneath.

"Of course," Will said immediately. "January 28th."

"See?!" Hazel yelled. "Nice people remember birthdays!"

Everyone started yelling at each other and Percy started hitting the ground with his gavel again.

"Guys, be nice," Piper chided, lacing her voice with a hint of charmspeak. She wanted this meeting to actually be productive. When they all settled down and stopped threatening each other, she turned towards Will. "So have you gotten Nico a birthday present yet?" she asked.

He fiddled with his necklace nervously. "Not yet. I haven't figured out what I'm going to get him yet."

Everyone glanced at Annabeth, but he held up her hands defensively. "I didn't figure out that part. I can't do everything. We'll think of it."

The group was silent again as they pondered the question at hand.

"So how long have you guys been scheming for?" Will asked curiously after a few minutes.

"About… three months?" Piper said, glancing at the group for clarification. None of them said anything different, so she continued. "We tried a bunch of different stuff at first, but nothing really worked."

"Wait… was it you guys who hung mistletoe everywhere?" Will asked indignantly. Everyone pointed to Leo, who grinned.

"It was worth a shot," he said, shrugging innocently. "Even though pretty much everyone _except for you two _actually took advantage of that."

"Well that would have been weird! Why should people have to kiss because they're under a stupid plant?!"

"First of all, that's just how it works. Second of all, you better not let any Demeter kids hear you call a plant stupid."

_This is going to take a while, _Piper thought to herself as everyone started yelling again.

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><p><strong>So a note about Nico's birthday: Rick Riordan has actually stated two birthdays for Nico. One is January 28, the other is May 16. I chose to use the January one in this story since it fits better with the timeline, but I just wanted to make a note of this in case anyone got confused.<strong>


	6. Chapter 6

**I'm so sorry for all the update delays. I was sick for a week, then had make up work for school, and things has just been busy in general for a while. Hope you like the chapter! Please review!**

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><p>Nico woke up to Hazel jumping on his bed. He burrowed further under the blankets and stubbornly kept his eyes closed as she yelled at him.<p>

"Wake up, sleepyhead!" she shouted, bouncing down into a sitting position next to the lump of blankets that was Nico. He stayed silent, wanting to fall back asleep again.

"Go away," he muttered. "I'm sleeping."

"Come _on_," she said, shaking him. "Don't you remember what day it is?"

He sat up at this and looked at his sister, who was sitting cross-legged on the other side of the bed. She was wearing a Camp Half-Blood t-shirt with jeans, and had pulled her hair into a messy ponytail. "Wednesday?" he asked, yawning.

Hazel looked like she was refraining from rolling her eyes. "It's your birthday, you idiot."

He blinked. "Oh." He hadn't really forgotten about it, he just hadn't expected anyone to remember.

Hazel really did roll her eyes this time. "You're almost as dense as Percy sometimes. Although he remembers any date that involves presents and cake." She rolled off of the bed and strolled out the cabin door. "Get ready!" she yelled over her shoulder before closing the door.

Nico sighed and fell back into the blankets. He would get up in five minutes. Knowing his friends, this was going to be a long day.

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><p>After Nico dragged himself out of bed and got ready, he started walking to the pavilion in search of his friends. He found Annabeth, Percy, Hazel, Reyna, Leo, Calypso, Frank, Will, Jason, Piper, and Rachel all sitting at a table.<p>

"HAPPY BIRTHDAY!" they all yelled when he sat down.

"We made a cake!" Percy shouted, pushing it across the table towards Nico. "Well actually, my mom made it," he added, seeing Nico's look of apprehension.

After blowing out the candles, everyone started throwing presents at him. Most of them were things that he actually liked, with the exception of the ear of corn that Leo got him.

Twenty minutes later, everyone had given him a present except Will, who just mouthed _Later_ to him from across the table and gave him the thumbs up. Nico felt like his stomach was full of skeleton butterflies again.

Reyna apparantly noticed, and wiggled her eyebrows at him suggestively. He rolled her eyes at her in response.

He cringed inwardly as he remembered the conversation he'd had with Reyna two weeks ago about his feelings. He had thought he was being subtle about his crush on Will. But apparently she knew, so it was a safe bet that a few dozen other people knew too. It would definitely explain the looks people (especially Leo and Percy) gave him whenever he talked to Will.

He didn't care too much about his friends knowing how he felt about with Will. He was more worried about their schemes to set them up. He knew they all meant well, but they went a bit overboard sometimes. He hoped it wouldn't escalate to the point where Will actually found out.

After the war with Gaea, Nico and Will formed a friendship that was based mostly on arguments. Nico developed a crush on him embarrassingly quickly.

_I just delivered a baby with these hands. You should hold them. _ Nico imitated Will in his mind before shaking himself from his thoughts when people started getting up and saying goodbye.

Soon enough, it was just Nico and Will left at the table.

"Time for your present," Will said. He was grinning as usual, but sounded uncharacteristically awkward and nervous. He stood up and gestured for Nico to follow him.

They walked in silence for a few minutes, Will gesturing for Nico to stop when they got to the edge of the forest.

He turned to face Nico and pulled a small gift out of his jacket pocket and handing it to him. He shuffled his feet, still looking nervous.

Nico took the gift, which was small, rectangular, and covered in Santa-patterned wrapping paper.

"We were out of non-Christmas themed wrapping paper," Will explained.

Nico nodded before unwrapping the present, almost freezing when he saw what it was. He wasn't sure what he had been expecting, but it sure hadn't been _this._

It was a framed picture of him and Bianca. They were smiling widely, Bianca's arm wrapped around his shoulders. It looked like it had been taken about five or six years ago. Nico didn't know where Will could have gotten this.

"Where… where did you even find this?" he asked, still staring at the photo. He didn't even have a picture of Bianca.

"Well, I was kind of freaking out about what to get you, so I talked to Jason, who talked to Thalia, and she said that she had found it in the Artemis cabin the last time she had been in camp and had meant to give it to you but forgot, so she sent it in. So I guess it's more of a present from her, but -" Will got cut off when Nico kissed him. It only lasted two seconds before Nico thought _Wait. Shit. What am I doing? SHIT. _He quickly backed up. Will and him were both blushing.

"So. Um. Thanks for the picture. I've really got to go, uh…." he gestured vaguely behind him before half-running-half-walking back towards the cabins without another word.

Thoughts flew through his head as he approached his cabin. _Shit. Did I seriously do that? Oh gods. This is bad. This is really really bad. Why did I do that? This is not good. Everything's ruined. THIS IS REALLY BAD._

When he went into the cabin, Hazel was already there, sitting on her bed with a sketchpad and drawing serenely. She didn't look up when Nico entered.

"So how'd it go?" she asked lightly. When Nico didn't answer, she looked up with a frown. "Are you okay?"

Nico tried to calm down. "Um. Well. I - he - I - no."

Hazel got up and walked over to him, looking concerned. She led him back to the beds and had him sit down on one of them. "Do you want to talk about it?" she prompted gently.

Nico looked up at her, dimly aware of the fact that he was still clutching the photo in his hand. He set in on his bedside table before answering. "So… he got me a picture. Of me and Bianca."

She nodded. "I know that part. He told me he was going to give that to you."

"And so… he gave it to me, and then I kind of… kissed him?" It came out sounding like a question.

Hazel's eyebrows flew up. "Oh. I didn't see that one coming. So what happened after that?"

"I kind of panicked and ran back here," he admitted. Hazel stared at him like he was an idiot. "What?" he asked defensively. "I panicked."

She facepalmed. "You really are as dense as Percy. Why'd you panic?!"

"I don't know! I didn't mean to kiss him. It just kind of… happened. And so I panicked."

Hazel looked like she was about to strangle him. "You didn't need to panic. He likes you back," she said, sounding like it was taking a lot of effort to keep calm.

Now Nico was confused. "Wait. What?"

"He _likes _you," she repeated slowly. "Like the way you like him."

Nico took a minute to process this. Oh. _Oh._

"Oops," he finally said.

Before Hazel could strangle him, Lou Ellen burst through the door. "You're an idiot," she declared to Nico. Hazel gave him a look that said _I told you so._ "You kissed him, then just ran away? You need to fix this," she warned before walking back outside.

Nico sighed. This was definitely the strangest birthday he'd ever had so far.

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><p><strong>Hooray! Things besides plotting and the denial of feelings happened in this chapter! Hoped you like it. Please review!<strong>


	7. Chapter 7

**Hi guys. I'm really really sorry that I haven't updated in so long, but a lot of stuff has been going on. There were the holidays, and plus my girlfriend and I broke up. It ended well, but I haven't really gotten to vent to my parents at all because they didn't know that I was in a relationship in the first place (my dad is really homophobic so… that would be an awkward conversation). So I've just kind of been moping a lot and eating my feelings instead of writing. I've also been having problems with my anxiety lately, so everything's just been kind of weird for the past few weeks. But I hope all of you guys are doing well and like this chapter!**

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><p>Nico paced up and down the cabin, trying to figure out how to fix what had just happened with Will.<p>

Hazel had been sitting on her bed since Lou Ellen had left, watching Nico pacing and occasionally shouting out ideas. None of them were helping.

_I screwed up_, Nico thought frustratedly.

"Nico, you need to calm down," Hazel said gently. Nico continued pacing.

"I can't calm down, because I messed everything up and Will probably hates me now for freaking out and running, and everything is ruined," he replied. He acknowledged that he sounded like a stereotypical lovesick teenager. He knew he actually was one, but he refused to admit that even to himself.

Hazel rolled her eyes before responding. "How about you just tell him why you freaked out?" she suggested.

He stopped walking for a moment to think about that. Okay. That actually made sense.

"Fine," he muttered. "That… _might_ work. I guess. Maybe."

Hazel smirked. "Good. Now just don't mess it up this time, or I'll kill you. Reyna and Lou Ellen will definitely help me."

* * *

><p>Ten minutes later (nine of which were spent being glared at by Hazel while she sharpened her spatha menacingly), he was walking towards the infirmary. He almost ran into multiple buildings and people, thinking about what he was going to say instead of focusing on where he was going.<p>

_Okay, Nico. You can do this, _he thought. _Just… tell him why you freaked out. But do it without sounding like an idiot. 'Oh hey Will, sorry I kissed you and panicked and ran away like a startled hellhound. It's just because I like you a lot and you're really attractive, and I'm really bad with romance. Sorry?'_

That sounded stupid even in his own head.

He was at the infirmary all too soon. He walked in, half hoping that Will wouldn't even be there so he could flee back to the safety of his cabin.

No luck. Will was sitting on a bed with Lou Ellen. They both looked up when Nico entered.

"Hey," he said awkwardly.

"Hi," Will replied, sounding hesitant.

Lou Ellen slid off of the bed and headed towards the door. "Well, I'll just leave you two alone," she said lightly. She paused when she passed Nico. "Don't do anything stupid," she muttered to him.

Then she left, and it was just Will and Nico.

Neither of them spoke for a few moments. It was finally Nico who broke the silence.

"So… I'm really sorry about… earlier," he said, cringing inwardly at how awkward he sounded.

Will raised an eyebrow, obviously waiting for him to elaborate.

Nico took a deep breath before continuing. "It's just… I don't know. I just kind of panicked? And I don't really know what I'm doing, so can we just forget that happened?"

Nico knew that was the wrong thing to say. He rushed to continue. "Because I really, really like you, and I kind of messed up really badly earlier, and I didn't mean to do that, and I'm not really sure _why _I did that, but I'm just really bad with this kind of stuff, because I really like you and…. I still don't know what I'm doing, so -"

"Okay, calm down," said Will, cutting off Nico's rambling. He was smiling now, which Nico counted as a win. "I get it. And just for the record, I really like you too. In case that wasn't obvious at this point."

Nico tried not to smile _too _widely. He hadn't gotten rejected.

"So how about we… I don't know… go see a movie or something?" Will asked. Now he sounded awkward too.

Nico raised his eyebrows. "Like a date?"

Will turned red. "Yeah."

* * *

><p>Fifteen minutes later, Nico burst into the Hades cabin. Hazel was still sitting on the bed

"Hazel! I didn't run away this time!" he yelled the second the door was closed. "And we're going on a date!"

"OH MY GODS!" someone shouted. It was Jason, who Nico hadn't noticed was in the cabin at first. "Is it Will? Please tell me it's Will," he asked.

"It's Will," Nico confirmed.

"Where are you guys going?" Jason demanded.

"What are you going to wear?" Hazel interjected.

"I've got to tell Reyna to give Will the 'If You Break His Heart I'll Break Your Face' speech," Jason said, getting up. "And you should probably know that Lou Ellen is going to give the same one to you," he said before leaving.

"Okay, so you didn't mess it up, right?" Hazel asked.

"I actually didn't mess it up."

"Your first date," Hazel said, wiping away a fake tear. "You're growing up so fast."

"I'm older than you!" Nico protested.

"Yeah, but I got a boyfriend before you," she teased.

She had a point there.

"Okay, so tell me everything," she said. "Where are you two going? What are you doing? What are you going to wear? Wait, don't even answer that. We'll have Piper's siblings figure that out."

Before Nico could answer any of her questions, Lou Ellen burst in again.

"Nico, you and I need to have a little talk," she said menacingly.


End file.
